A Gang Sworn to Bushido (a twisted Nuzlocke Tale)
by Remi Femble
Summary: Not every kid has the perfect beginning to a pokemon adventure, Brendan just made his an epic nightmare of struggles that force him into a corner. This is a Nuzlocke Based run of the Omega Ruby game. it will have many many many plot deviations and be super different from other runs because of these elements. I hope that you enjoy. Title was previously "A Weekend at Brendan's"
1. Chapter 1

Weekend At Brendan's

Author Note:

So this story will be essentially a Nuzlocke derived story with seriously different plot twists and points, mostly for intrigue and change but also for serious comedy that should give you the reader some knee slapping moments. I initially had the working title "In Memory of the Fallen" so I'll leave it at that. The story takes a lot longer than a weekend (wink, wink). I hope that my efforts earn me your comments/reviews, and my favorites. I hope to hear from you all!

As with a Nuzlocke there are a few rules

1) Only catch the first pokemon you find in each route that you explore the first time you explore it.

2) If a pokemon faints they die, (ain't no fainting business up in here.

3) all pokemon will have names

4) fudge legendaries with a dirty berry.

...

Chapter 1: A Different way to Start

It was the day that Brendan had been dreading, arriving in the town of Littleroot. He hated that his mom and him had to move while his estranged dad worked two towns over as the Petalburg City gym leader. This move was because his mom believed it would be a better environment for the two to relax and get away from Norman, who only cared about work, and French toast.

The movers had settled everything into the house and Brendan quickly set up his room when his mom told him to go exploring around the town. He shrugged and went out into the town, which was rather sparsely populated, so really he just stood there next to the house in disgust at the situation.

Then he heard a whining cry, as if a five-year-old girl was hollering about for her daddy in terror. Brendan strolled out to the fields of route 101 to see what the noise was about. However, when he got there he found a portly professor running around waving his arms like a little girl running being chased by a poochyena. "Ahhhh! Kid grab a poke ball from my bag and kill this thing, quickly! Save me!" the portly prof cried. Brendan strolled over without a care in the world, reached in the bag, and found a poke ball with a green leaf etched into the ball. Brendan threw the ball on the ground, releasing the treecko inside.

"Sup treecko." Brendan said as he reached down and gave the little green Pokémon a dab. "do you got a name?" the treecko shook his head meaning 'no.' "fine I'll call you Mitsuhide." the treecko gave him a thumbs up and the two smiled. Brendan then reached into the bag and found a blank pokedex, which he started registering to himself. He then entered Mitsuhide into his system registry.

"hey kid, I love that you guys are bonding, and you're stealing a pokedex, but can you save me..." the fat man fell over as he finished the sentence and the poochyena began clawing into the man, rending bits of flesh as the man screamed in agony and tried to slap off the angry dog.

"No, I've got to go be a Pokémon master and show up my dad!" Brendan and his new buddy Mitsuhide walked back into town to get some stuff from the house so that they could set off in style.

"Are you kidding me!" the fat man cried as the poochyena continued to maul him in the tall grass of route 101. "Ahhhh!" the poochyena was happy as he continued to claim his evening meal for the beasts of route 101 to share. The man blacked out as the poochyena howled for his friends to come and gain a share of the spoils.

Brendan quickly ran inside his house and told his mom that he was to go off and be a Pokémon master. She sighed and handed him a backpack, with six poke balls and she just asked him to leave before she changed her mind. Brendan gave Mitsuhide a high five as the two realized that they were setting off on a brand new adventure to conquer the world, or subjugate Brendan's dad; either sounded good to the team.

As they returned to route 101 they passed by the spot where Brendan jacked the pokedex and his new buddy Mitsuhide. They spotted a mauled and mutilated corpse. "Oh guess he couldn't fight off the baby pooch." Brendan starred at the mangled remains of the fat prof after the dogs had eaten their fill. As they starred, Mitsuhide went closer to the body and grabbed a stick. The grass pokemon then poked the body with the stick. "Bro I think he's dead." Brendan said to his buddy as the two just observed the dead body. Brendan wondered what the man was doing out in the field by himself anyway, and also why he never bothered to use the pokemon he had with him to save his life. Brendan was puzzled by this man's existence and of course whether or not he had a family.

Suddenly, he heard a noise from the distance. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy where are you." the voice was one of a girl Brendan's age. The voice grew louder with the passing moments and soon Brendan could hear footsteps. Brendan figured he would at least let the person know where to look for the body, in case this dead man was whom she was looking to find.

"Hey girl!" he hollered. "Is this who you are looking for?" the pacing of the steps of the girl changed to a more rapid movement as the girl soon appeared out of the brush and was standing beside Brendan. She was cute but he could tell that she was a bit of a brat.

"Where is my daddy?" she screamed in the boy's ear as she grabbed him by the collar with one hand while the other cocked back to punch Brendan square in the kisser. Brendan quickly pointed to the corpse that Mitsuhide was still poking with a small stick. The girl quickly let go of Brendan and ran to inspect the body. The body was highly mangled making easy recognition of the person's identity hard to ascertain as the poochyena made a good meal of the body. The girl however was not fooled she knew by the giant white lab coat that the fellow was wearing and the brown satchel near the body that this dead man in the field was in fact her father. She instantly fell to her knees in despair and started crying at the demise of daddy dearest. Brendan rubbed his neck, knocking off the pain from the girl's grip. He then looked her over and felt somewhat bad for leaving her father out there defenseless against the hungry poochyena. That thought was disrupted however by the sight of Mitsuhide still poking the corpse.

"Mitsuhide, knock that stuff off!" Brendan commanded to his pal without trying to raise his voice too loudly. The treecko understood and dropped the stick, and gave Brendan a thumbs up to show that he understood. Brendan chuckled at Mitsuhide's demeanor as he found his little buddy to be quite the little troublemaker like himself. However, the chuckled was at the wrong time. The girl heard Brendan's giggle and her despair transformed to rage with the blink of her eyes.

"YOU!" she hollered as she returned to her feet. She pointed furiously with a deep burning rage against the young man. "YOU Killed my DADDY!" Brendan took several steps back with confusion upon his face as he mumbled and fumbled his words trying to offer a calming response that would provide an adequate explanation to the situation at hand. "You killed him!" the accusations continued against the boy. "You stole that treecko which Daddy was going to offer to me as an option for my first pokemon." she then looked back at the corpse of her father again. "And then...You ATE him!" the rage filled her eyes as Brendan continued shaking his hands and head in disagreement as he attempted to offer an explanation; one that the girl couldn't hear, as her ears were deaf with fury. The girl clenched her fists, but then she paused to think rather than simply charging at the frazzled boy. She saw that the kid had a pokemon and that fighting him by herself would be a mismatch. She then remembered her father's bag and quickly reached down and grabbed a pokeball from inside. The ball had a fiery ember mark on it and she instantly knew the beast inside. The girl threw it on the ground. "Go Torchic! Kill both Treecko and that cannibal!"

The torchic was small and yet it possessed a similar anger against the boy and Mitsuhide. The little bird flexed, and mustered up its courage toward the opposing beings. "How could you Treecko? How could you eat the nice professor?"

"My name is Mitsuhide now, and I did no such thing!" the grass pokemon spouted back to the torchic. The torchic refused to listen and proceeded to scratch the grass type. Mitsuhide however was not one to go down to a tiny bird and quickly countered back with a pound attack, which hit the bird critically. The torchic found herself flattened by the attack and thus unable to continue to battle. "We didn't murder him, or eat him. It was the poochyena; can't you see the teeth marks on the man's flesh?" however the words fell on deaf ears as the torchic fainted from the trauma of the beating. The girl who called forth the tiny bird fell to her knees in melancholy as she realized that she could not claim revenge in this moment on the boy.

Brendan noticing the girl sloshed over saw this as the perfect time to get away from the crazy gal drunk with bloodlust. "Mitsuhide let's get out of here!" the two ran off deeper down the route before the girl could collect herself. Soon she looked up to realize that the duo had escaped her clutches and thus had evaded what she believed was due justice upon them for the crimes she believed that they committed against a human.

"I'll get you boy!" she screeched as the boy darted forward down the path. The girl would have followed suit after him but her new pokemon was injured and a funeral had to be arranged for her departed father. She collected herself, marked her spot for her to find again, and returned to the town of Littleroot to get someone to help her move the corpse.

Back on the road, the duo paused to take a breather as the running had left the pair panting for air. "Well Mitsuhide, I think we may become fugitives for the time. That girl seemed convinced we did that to her father. Mitsuhide nodded in agreement. The pair sat down to rest a bit and collect themselves. Then some rustling in the brush near them startled the pair. Mitsuhide took up a fighting stance and Brendan returned to his feet, ready for action. "Get ready bro!"

"Grr!" out of the brush appeared a little zigzagoon. The pair starred the adversary down as they sought to add the creature to their gang. Mitsuhide and Brendan were already on the same wavelength without even Brendan giving the command. Mitsuhide jumped at the zigzagoon and pounded him. The creature groaned from the pain of the incident and then tackled the treecko; however, the attack barely knocked Mitsuhide, as he was superior to the creature in stat power (the total number of all 6 stat categories of a pokemon). Brendan quickly reached into his backpack, pulled out a blank pokeball, and threw it at the creature.

"BONK!" the ball hit the animal on the head and quickly sucked him inside as Brendan sought to claim ownership of the beast. With a few struggles of the ball, it was all over as the ball sealed and the zigzagoon accepted Brendan as his master. and with that very capture Brendan lit up like a lightbulb, because he had an idea as to how to clear his name if the girl filed a police report against him and the people just believed her rather than seeing the evidence of the poochyena being the fat man's folly and not Brendan.

"Mitsuhide, I know how we can fix everything!" the treecko tilted his head at his master as he was curious as to what kind of solution the trainer could offer. "We become the Pokemon League Champion! Even if they blame us, they will have to listen to us if we become the champion. They just have to!" Mitsuhide gave the trainer a thumbs up in agreement, as he was not going to try and rain on the boy's parade of hope. Even if Mitsuhide knew that this all could have been avoided if he and Brendan would have been honorable from the get go and just saved the professor from the dogs rather than just stolen from him and stormed off like a punk. Brendan released the zigzagoon from the ball and dubbed him the name Nagamasa. Brendan explained to the two pokemon that he hated the ideas of keeping his buddies in pokeballs and vowed to keep them in the ball as sparingly as possible. This news delighted Mitsuhide and Nagamasa. Brendan then built a fire and sat by it as he set up his evening camp.

Nagamasa pulled Mitsuhide aside for a chat as Brendan relaxed from the events of the day. "So we're all good from earlier?"

"Of course we are Nagamasa."

"Good. Since we are on the run sort of, we need to be buddies and not holding grudges." the zigzagoon paused, "is what master said true? Are we wanted for murder?"

"No, not yet." Mitsuhide replied. "Only if the girl starts saying we did and the people don't notice the bite marks on dead man's flesh. Either way, I'm with Brendan, and I'll need your help to keep safe and see him cleared of any allegations." Mitsuhide extended his right palm toward the new member of the crew. "Can I count on you, brother?" Nagamasa grabbed hold of the extend hand of fellowship and nodded with a smile as he now felt truly a part of the crew and not just "the new guy."

Meanwhile, back in Littleroot the girl who lost her father was sobbing in agony and anger as she told the story to all the townsfolk about the cannibalistic boy and his treecko. While many doubted the testimony of the girl even after retrieving the body and knowing that the man had in fact been killed, the story was still gaining traction. Moreover, with each telling the girl's anger toward the boy grew stronger. "I'll get you kid!" she said under her breath with rage as she gritted her teeth and began making funeral preparations.


	2. Chapter 2

Author Note:

I hope this stuff is fun for you. It is for me. I hope to hear from a lot of you reader's out there as continue on this journey. Hope last chapter wasn't too nasty.

…

Chapter 2: A Different Kind of Dog

"Ring! Ring! Ring!" the cell phone signals an incoming phone call.

"Gym Leader Wallace speaking!" the flamboyant leader answers.

"Wallace, its May, professor Birch's daughter." May paused to hear Wallace's linguistic approach of sharing his sorrows for her loss. "Yes. Thank you Wallace. However, I've told everyone of the murderer of my father, a cannibal boy who just moved to town, but nobody believes me enough to start a manhunt."

"Well do you have proof?" Wallace questioned.

"He fled the scene and attacked my torchic! That's enough proof isn't it?" she quickly retorted. Wallace shared his concerns but complied with May's suspicions of the boy.

"Look dear, don't do anything brash. I will alert the other gym leaders and the league. If we run into him, we will try to apprehend him. I repeat, leave this to the professional..."

"Beep!" May hung up the phone.

"Wallace, you always were a baby-backed bitch. I am going to get justice on that boy. Wherever he is!" She tucked her phone into her backpack pulled out her bike from the rack in front of the house, tied a red bandana around her head, grabbed supplies from her father's pokemon research lab and with torchic by her side she set off to get her revenge.

Brendan awoke from a rough sleep with dried drool stuck to his face as he and rose to face the challenges of the new day. the gang was young a kind of weak so Brendan knew that he needed to be careful with himself and his buddies, especially since he knew firsthand the dangers of certain pokemon in the wild. The thought of the might of the poochyena excited and astonished the boy. This thought got him thinking that he wanted one of those terror dogs.

Mitsuhide and Nagamasa were up early; they rose before Brendan and began by training against wild pokemon roaming the route. By the time Brendan had awoken, the duo had clobbered nearly 20 untrained. Brendan could tell that the pair was stronger and took a pokedex reading of his pokemon pair. The readout showed that both had raised their stat level by a good sum. However, Brendan noticed that the two did seem a little tuckered out from the battling. "Guys, let's go to Oldale town and regroup before we go searching for more buddies." The poke pair nodded in consent and the group packed up the camp and set off down the trail for the town ahead.

It did not take but two hours for them to reach the town of Oldale. The town was small and Brendan hoped that he would not be recognized or questioned about the dead man back in Littleroot. The troop quickly healed up at the pokemon center, returning the dynamic duo to fighting fit state.

"Hey Mitsuhide," the zigzagoon asked his buddy. "Why do they call it Oldale town?" Mitsuhide shrugged in confusion.

"I don't know, I guess they're all drunkards here." the two shared a joyous laugh as Brendan stocked up on pokeballs, potions, and a couple antidotes at the pokemart nearby. Brendan then led the group north to the edge of route 103 to do a little training and viewing in the area before moving west to start facing down serious trainers.

"Guys we're going to hang around here for a but to center ourselves and get ready for the stress of the journey, we need to up our numbers and get you guys stronger, because there are beasts out there of insane power." the duo rubbed the dirt of their shoulders to signify to their master that they had the issue covered. However, the issue of Brendan's status in society scared him about the possibilities that lay ahead of him. He figured setting up shop on the sparse route 103 would provide his crew a safe place to train up to higher levels.

Almost immediately, Brendan saw the signs of a pokemon in the grass of the route. "Yes it's a pokemon, our first one here! That means we can catch it for our posse!"

"Hey Mitsuhide, why does Brendan think that he can only catch the first one he sees in a route? Doesn't he know you can catch however many you want in a single area?"

"Nagamasa, it is just part of the rules, according to him at least." the treecko replied, as they stood ready for the beast to emerge.

"RULES! What rules?" retorted Nagamasa.

"Bro..." the treecko extend an open palm at the eye level of the zigzagoon. "Don't fight the psychosis."

"Rwaarr!" emerging from the grass was a poochyena, the same kind of pokemon that killed Birch, the same kind that Brendan had been day dreaming about all the day long since he awoke. The pooch strolled toward the party without any fear in his eyes and rather than attack the troop he simply bowed his head in respect showing that he wished to join the crew.

"You want to join up with us?" the poochyena nodded in affirmation to the question. Brendan's eyes lit up with joy and love as he presented a pokeball to the wild dog. The dog bumped his nose against the center button and created the bond with the ball. Brendan then released his new friend and named him. "I'll dub thee, Masamune!" the dog liked that name and was happy to join the squad.

"Hey guys, thanks for letting me join up." Masamune said to the other two pokemon. "Masamune shook both of their hands/paws and they exchanged a few words two each other to break the ice.

"You excited to fight and train up." Mitsuhide said to the dog.

"Hecks yeah! I love fighting! People think that my breed of pokemon have low battle potential, but I want to grow in a true powerhouse and show them all TRUE power." Masamune replied looking toward the moon. The poochyena seemed a flight with dreams of battle and possessed a spirit for combat. Nagamasa took note of this fighting edge and immediately liked the potential he saw in his teammate.

"This guy had potential to really be an asset." Nagamasa said to Mitsuhide as Brendan and Masamune marched onward to find wildlings to battle up on. "According to the pokedex status app his attack stat is significantly higher than ours even with all our training."

"Yeah! Even though for the moment our stat level is higher than his, this guy has serious promise," the treecko responded to Nagamasa.

The rest of the afternoon was spent terrorizing the pokemon of the route. Masamune proved most hungry of the bunch and even stood his ground against his own kin. It mattered not to Masamune as he was committed to become a force to be reckoned with in the gang. By afternoon's end Masamune had trained up to become to strongest in the party, even outclassing Mitsuhide in total stat level. Brendan was amazed at the progress of his party that he decided that the crew would rest up for the evening under the stars next to the sea that divided the route.

The group felt seriously accomplished after the day's efforts and truly felt special that they were together; not so much because of Brendan being a great leader but because of the pokemon feeling a solid bond with one another. Brendan set up the campsite with the gang helping get things organized. Eventually they got a small little campfire together and Brendan being still a preteen passed out cold as his body required rest after an eventful day. The pokemon however decided to stay up and talk a bit more.

"So how Brendan's journey start out? Why does he act as if he's afraid someone is going to find him at times?" Masamune asked the other two. Nagamasa sighed, as he knew the story would always be one that he would have to explain to any newcomer as part of making sure they understood what they were getting into with the gang. He simply looked to his left to Mitsuhide, a sign that he believed the "leader" of the crew needed to be the one to inform the newcomer. Mitsuhide paused before starting the tale. The pause altered the mood, even for Masamune who asked what he believed to be a lighthearted question, but was in fact a sour subject for the gang. Mitsuhide however told the tale, and told it without any sugar or bias toward the party, as he believed that the truth pointed to their cause without any pandering needed.

"...and that is why we need Brendan to become Pokemon League Champion."

Masamune nodded in thought for a few moments. Then he began to affix his face to show that he was content with the explanation. "Alright then." he replied. "We protect Brendan and clear his name."

"Aren't you concerned about being associated with a man who is on the run because of actions of a gang of your fellow poochyena?" Masamune strolled off a few feet from the campsite and sat his rump on the ground while looking up at the moon.

"Not at all Nagamasa." he spoke to his friends whilst gazing at the brilliant light of the moon in the sky above. "Wild roving poochyena who refuse to eat berries and fruit and only hunt meat give us a bad name. We aren't wild savages, and I cannot stand that some people lack the civil manners to leave meat alone and actively hunt for It." a loan tear flooded the right eye of the poochyena as he sat alone. The duo of Mitsuhide and Nagamasa decided to go sit with their friend and watch the moon. They decided to speak no father and just enjoy the serenity of the night sky. Then after nuzzling his friends, heads in appreciation Masamune stood up on all four legs and belted a howl to silence all other sounds of the night. He was happy.

"You know guys I never had a pack." the others seemed astonished by this news as poochyena and the evolved form, Mightyena, were widely known as the most pack oriented pokemon known to man. "My parents were killed by farmers after my pack was blames for stealing crops, when we were actually hunting the pokemon that did steal them. Afterward I and the rest of my litter struggled to survive. Within two weeks the others died and I was alone as my pack was wiped out." He turned back to the two friends beside him. He then stuck his right paw in the center of them. "Let us be brothers, and always be as one together." he smiled as he looked at the other two.

"Brothers!" Mitsuhide and Nagamasa said as they all put their right hands in with the poochyena. All smiled as they took in the night light as a family, the family under Brendan.

"THERE YOU ARE BASTARD!" the sound echoed over the water and grass as it awoke Brendan and disrupted the trio from their bonding. It was the girl, May riding hard on her bike with a torchic sitting on her shoulder as the pair came speeding toward the campsite. Brendan rose with has and called for the crew to assemble as the girl slide her bike to a stop a few paces from the campfire. "YOU! DADDY EATER!" She called to the boy, "PREPARE TO DIE!" With those words, Brendan and his trio of pokemon knew that the battle was set. The torchic sent out an ember blast aimed at the crew, but Masamune jumped in front of the fire-puff, taking the damage for the others.

"I've got this guys." Brendan smiled as he saw that Masamune was ready to battle, and he was able to know this even without being able to speak the pokemon language. The torchic stammered up and charged the poochyena.

"Come on Torchic, burn that dog!" May called to the bird. The little firebird blew another ember in the direction of Masamune, but he leapt out of the way of this blast and proceeded to tackle the torchic. He hit the poor little bird so hard that is knocked back into May and pushed both her and the bird into the river, which had a current that swept the duo away, leaving behind her bike. "I'll get you," she gargled as the pair struggled to stay above the surface as they rode the current back to Littleroot. Brendan let out a sigh of relief as two of his pokemon comrades patted Masamune on the back. It was a quick concise victory for the gang. Masamune smiled proudly at his accomplishments.

Of course, seeing the girl again gave Brendan a sense of concern, as he knew that she still blamed him for the murder of Birch, and was not interested in letting be in peace. He feared that horror would come his way but he believed that after Masamune's sound victory over trainer's pokemon that his gang was strong enough to continue onward in their quest. "Alright gang, rest up. Tomorrow, we refresh in Oldale and then move onward to route 102 and our destiny." All smiled in excitement and then each member of the group nuzzled up for a good sleep with the remaining evening hours.


	3. Interlude 1

Interlude 1: Talking about EV training

Brendan and the gang the next morning had a bit of a slow start due to the midnight intrusion by a certain girl. This led to everyone including the vigorous Masamune to be sluggish in the morning's rays of light. Brendan decided to check his pokedex and do a little bit of studying on the machine. As he played around on the machine, the group slowly arose and wiped themselves from slumber in order to observe how their master used the pokedex to gather information. Soon all four of the gang were reading over the screen. The pokemon found the information rather interesting,

Moreover, while they could understand the words on the screen, they could not speak the language of the humans. However, knowing the severity of their quest each felt it important to study up and be as knowledgeable as possible, because they each believed that understanding would lead to a higher survival rate for the party.

Brendan then scrolled to the right and noticed a very interesting application talking about "EV training." Brendan continued to read on about the disclaimers; as a benefit to the pokemon he read aloud.

"Effort Value training, or EV for short, is a process of special outside battle/reward for battle training to further specialize your Pokémon's abilities in the six tracked statistical categories. 1) Hit points, 2) attack, 3) defense, 4) special attack, 5) special defense, 6) speed. Naturally, each pokemon breed has a different base setup in these six categories. However, with targeted training a trainer can help develop further their pokemon partner in a specific area. If a trainer simply wishes a pokemon can be left unspecialized and thus will leave its natural stat balance and growth unaltered."

Brendan finished reading the notice and then saw lists of activities that one could do to increase the EV's of each specific stat. Brendan then pet the head of Masamune sitting to his left side. "Guys I think we could benefit from this training. I sounds like it will make you stronger without having to risk you in battle." Brendan however did not want to choose for his pokemon what they specialized in; he could tell they understood everything he read of the sheet and pondered a way to communicate with them.

Then a lightbulb went off in his head. He grabbed a stick a went to a patch of dirt a few feet away. He drew a heart, a circle, a triangle, a diamond, a square, and a star. He pointed to each object and told the gang what each one meant and that pointing at one meant they wanted to focus on that particular stat. "So guys what do you want to focus on?" Mitsuhide waltzed up first and marked that he wanted to focus on special attack and speed. Masamune then came up and stated that he wanted attack and speed to be his focus. Nagamasa was the last of the group and he purely mentioned that the stat he wanted to focus on was defense, solely defense.

"Well that settles it guys let's get cracking!" the rest of the morning was a blur of a montage of training exercises in which Brendan and his pokemon read off the screen of the pokedex how to train a certain stat and the crew then put the training into motion. Many laughs were had by all as the crew found themselves becoming significantly better in their desired stat category by the midday meal. Brendan felt fully confident and ready that the crew was prepared and pumped to continue onward, whatever the challenge may be.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: ….Yeah

After a midday meal, Brendan and the crew packed up and walked back to Oldale town to restock before going onward down route 102. The day was a bright sunny day and after the morning EV training the three pokemon under his care were marching with a swagger that showed true confidence in their abilities.

"Guys that training really has me feeling super powerful." boasted Masamune to the others. Mitsuhide and Nagamasa agreed as they entered the border of the town with their trainer. The town seemed a bit tenser than on their previous visit and the whole crew realized this from the first building they passed. People who were normally out and about with a chipper smile on their face now seemed tense and looking over their shoulders for Arceus knows what.

"Keep your guard up guys," Mitsuhide spoke to the others. "Something doesn't feel right." everyone kept their head on a swivel as they made their way to the pokemon center for a quick refresh.

"Do you think the word got out about the murder of the professor?" Nagamasa asked his companions.

"Could be." Masamune replied, "But I doubt that Brendan is in any serious trouble. After all, only that girl has words against our boy, and I do not think that there is evidence of him being the murderer. Besides, does she even know his name?" The poochyena's words calmed the bunch a bit, as they entered the pokecenter.

"High there!" said a lovely nurse joy from behind the counter. "Welcome to our pokemon center." Brendan said hello and asked for a servicing for his pokemon pals. The nurse consented and proceeded to run the refreshing machine. Brendan sat back and waited for the machine to ding and after a couple minutes all was well and his pokemon were returned to full fighting state. As the crew emerged from their balls and stretched, their legs a radio broadcast came on over the speaker system.

"We interrupt your regularly scheduled programing to bring you and urgent announcement." Brendan and the crew piped up their ears to try to listen as closely as possible. They feared that finally the world would be after them. "Professor Birch of Littleroot was found murdered and eaten outside his beloved town. His daughter May reported the murder to the authorities two days past and now the authorities are seeking a youth believed to be at the very least a key witness to the event." Brendan gulped in horror. "The boy is Brendan son of Petalburg Gym Leader Norman. His picture will be sent to every trainer's pokedex and every gym leader out there in Hoenn within the next hour. Be advised that he is only wanted for questioning; he is not to be harmed. However, if you do see if please try to apprehend him immediately. The bounty for bringing him back to Littleroot is set at $30,000 poke dollars." Brendan gasped as he heard this amount. With those words, he immediately grabbed his pokemon and yanked them out of the pokemon center.

"Well guys, we're officially Hoenn's most wanted man." Brendan sloshed down to the ground and put his face between his knees and began to cry. However, Mitsuhide was not about to let that kind of bologna stand. Brendan felt a strong tail whip on his face and looked up to see his three friends alongside him, still ready for the challenge ahead. "Thanks guys," the boy said as he wiped his tears on his sleeve. "You guys are the best. Let's move on to Petalburg City quickly and see if my Dad can help us out." The idea sounded logical as a next course of action, even if Brendan did not like his dad, he had no other idea as to how to help himself at the moment. Brendan knew that with the word out about himself he was going to need someone to help clear things up just so he would not be behind bars for the rest of his life.

The crew quickly set out westward down route 102. Before too long they saw a rustling in the tall grass and Brendan sent Nagamasa in for a close inspection. "Go Nagamasa; see if we can get a new friend here." Through the power of persuasion and a solid tackle. Nagamasa came out of the brush with a wurmple under his feet. Brendan looked up the pokemon in the pokedex and threw a pokeball at his new friend. After the seal had been made, he released the pokemon from its ball and looked over his little wurmple. "Well guys meet our new friend." The other two that had yet to 'meet' the worm came over and introduced themselves.

"No hard feelings...right?" Nagamasa said to his newest teammate as he extended a hand of fellowship. The Wurmple smiled and the zigzagoon's paw with its forward most leg. Nagamasa felt the hero after gaining a new ally for the party. Now of course Brendan sought to give the little one a name.

"Uhh!" Brendan scratched his head for a moment. He then shifted around as he tried to look about and around the wurmple. He then stood back up and tried rested his hand under his chin as he was puzzled in thought. "Hey Mitsuhide," he said to the treecko. "How do I tell what gender this wurmple is?" the awkwardness of the question floored everyone, and made the wurmple blush bright red. Mitsuhide got up, pulled out a pair of glasses, got a stick and proceeded to look around the little wurmple. After a good looking around the wurmple, Mitsuhide raised his right arm and...Just shrugged his shoulders. "Well...thanks for trying Mitsuhide." Brendan said to his friend as he shook his head. Then Nagamasa handed Brendan the pokedex. Brendan let the computer verify for him. "Huh, so you're a female?" the wurmple blushed. "Well then, I'll name you Okuni." The wurmple smiled as she enjoyed the name.

"Wait if you're a girl, where are your...you know...girl parts?" Masamune asked of Okuni. The awkwardness of the question floored Mitsuhide and Nagamasa.

"Why I never!" Okuni gave the poochyena a big slap with her front legs.

"Masamune!" exclaimed Nagamasa in bewilderment. "You cannot do that."

"Do what?" replied the dog as he rubbed the slap mark on his face.

"Ask a lady where her girl parts are. Its bad manners!" the zigzagoon continued. "Didn't you parents ever...Oh?" Nagamasa stopped right there as he realized that he made a mistake. The poochyena in a friendly anger jumped atop his comrade and the two began fighting along the route causing a commotion in the area.

"Knock it off guys!" Brendan said to the two as the other pokemon just watched the spectacle.

"Are they always like this?" Okuni asked of Mitsuhide. The treecko just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as the pair continued rough housing and drawing attention to the party.

Suddenly, "Hey guys over there, that's the guy with the bounty on his head!" a voice shouted from the distance. With that one sentence, four trainers came running at the party.

"Guys saddle up us have a fight on our hands!" Brendan said to his pokemon. The crew got focused in an instant. "I trust your judgement guys, just be sure to survive." the enemy trainers released all their pokemon at once. There were five enemy combatants facing Brendan's gang. Charging at them were two zigzagoons, a tailow, a poochyena, and a wurmple. Mitsuhide being the senior member of the party called out instructions to the crew.

"Nagamasa take the zigzagoon on the left, Masamune take the zigzagoon on the right. I'll take on the tailow and poochyena together." the treecko then looked back at the newest member, Okuni the wurmple. "Okuni!" he said looking over his shoulder at his newest member of the squad. "Can you take on the enemy wurmple." the little wurmple grinned and nodded her head in agreement with the strategy.

"Guys, show them no mercy! Enemy pokemon are dead pokemon, it's the only way we can get these trainers to leave us alone." Masamune spouted to the crew braced for the enemy. All agreed and took up positions. "Charge!" Masamune blitzed in hard and fast tackling the enemy zigzagoon. Mitsuhide dodged an attack by the poochyena and then pounded the tailow into the ground for a quick victory. Nagamasa and his opposed kinsman shared a tackle with each other and became locked in a stalemate. All the while, the two wurmple exchanged minor, uneventful blows that barely hurt the other.

Mitsuhide grabbed the poochyena by the jaws as it leapt at him attempting another tackle attack. The beast pushed back the treecko as he tried to hold his ground. The pair exchanged several blows before Mitsuhide found a weak spot a pounded the opposing dog in a critical fashion. To his right Masamune was just finishing off the zigzagoon he was fighting with a bite to the neck of the enemy. The enemy pokemon whimpered as Masamune snapped back and finished his opponent with his superior attack power. Nagamasa finally broke through and hit his kinsman with a solid tackle that won him the battle against his opponent, as he knocked the beast out cold. The trio celebrated as they vanquished their foes. However nearby, Okuni was limping in agony as the opposing wurmple had her on the ropes.

"Oh shit! Okuni!" Nagamasa hollered as he blitzed to her aide. The opposing wurmple however, landed the fatal blow just as Nagamasa reached her side. He tackled the enemy wurmple and bashed it flat; squishing it like the bug, it was in life. Okuni cried in pain as her life faded away. As the enemy trainers cussed and yelled mean things as they picked up their dead pokemon and ran back toward Oldale, Brendan and the other three pokemon gathered round to take in Okuni's last moments of life. Mitsuhide looking down at the wurmple reached down and grabbed a stick a moved to poke Okuni.

"Don't poke her Mitsuhide!" Brendan said as he grabbed the stick from the treecko's hand. Brendan threw the stick away and simply starred at his pokemon that gave her life protecting him, even without knowing about his past.

"Sorry Okuni," Brendan said with tears in his eyes as he thought back over the memories he shared with the pokemon over the last 15 minutes. "You were sooo young!" Brendan closed the eyes of the wurmple as it faded completely. He then went and sat down a few feet away to give the pokemon some space. "Can you guys bury her?" he said to his pokemon as he crouched in tears face away from the corpse.

The pokemon agreed and dug a hole beside her dead body a few feet deep. And then lowered her body into the hole, then quickly covered the wurmple. Mitsuhide then stuck a few sticks and a rock atop one end of the grave to be used as a makeshift headstone. As they finished this, the trio stood next to the grave and simply starred in silence. Until Nagamasa gathered the courage to break the silence.

"So...shouldn't someone...you know...say a few words?" he said while eyeballing the grave. He had never buried a friend before and was not sure about the protocol.

"Well we didn't know that much about her." Mitsuhide replied. "I mean she was only with us for 15 minutes."

"True, but everyone deserves something to be said about them when they die." Nagamasa paused. "...Well Mitsuhide you spoke to her the most, why not you?" The treecko waved his arms in disagreement as he leaned away from Nagamasa.

"What? Me? I could do no such thing I did not really even talk to her." the answered trying to shirk the duty.

"Fine all do it!" Masamune piped up. The other two were relieved at Masamune stepping up to assume the mantle. "Ahem!" The dog cleared his throat. "Okuni was a wurmple." the two others slapped their hand against their forehead in disbelief as they listened. "She was red and had no lady parts, but assured us she was a lady wurmple." Nagamasa shook his head in shock at the words of the poochyena. "She died to another wurmple. We maybe should not have let her fight. Go with Arceus."

"Go with Arceus." the others, said to end the speech.

"Mitsuhide, if I die. Don't let Masamune do my eulogy." Nagamasa said to the treecko.

"Same here as well." Mitsuhide replied. Right about that moment Brendan walked up, seemingly okay from the stress of the situation.

"Come on guys we still have to reach Petalburg and see if my dad can help us." He said to his companions. Never did he expect loss to hit the party so soon. But when you are the most wanted man in Hoenn, trouble will strike, and strike hard.

As they left, the scene and the grave of his ally the crew took once last look back, turned their heads west, and marched onward toward Norman in hopes of a safe haven.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Help with Helping

"Hey boss, did you hear the news?" a grunt said with his boss nearby. The lackey lacked grace in his entrance, but when you have important news at hand then you have to get the news out. The boss turned around in his roller chair to face his clumsy follower. He was a taller adult male with slicked back volcano red hair. He wore a pair of augmented glasses, and had a long red cape.

"No Boris, I have not. What is the news that you have brought me?" Maxie said as he adjusted his spectacles. He rose from his seat with perfect posture and folded his arms behind his back as he awaited an intelligible response from the underling.

Saluting his superior, the grunt gave his report. "Sir, we have heard that the death of professor Birch has been pinned for the moment on the son of the Petalburg Gym Leader, Norman. This accusation comes from the testimony of the professor's daughter May, who saw Brendan with the corpse of her father." the grunt then handed a picture of the boy to his leader. "The boy is currently wanted for questioning and has a bounty on his capture of $30,000 poke dollars. However, if he goes uncaptured for a solid amount of time the bounty may increase further."

"$30,000 poke dollars you say." Maxie removed his glasses and wiped down the lenses as he thought over the situation. He then repositioned his ocular device upon his brow, "Then we must be the ones to apprehend him. Send a team out after the boy immediately." The grunt saluted the boss and quickly left the room to put together the squad. As he exited, the boss sat back into his chair and turned it around to overlook his base of operations. He pondered the situation further and laughed as he realized the beauty of this little boy being blamed for the death of the fat professor. "Well Brendan, I guess you're a sick person. HAHAHAHA!" the leader chuckled and laughed as the plan was set into motion.

...

"Well Wallie, go get yourself a good little pokemon. What do you say sonny?" Norman said to the local youth standing in front of his gym. The little boy was sickly and Norman had taken a found liking to the child and believed that if the boy were to be introduced to pokemon training, which required an astute, active lifestyle that the health of young Wallie would return to him. The boy smiled with joy at the instructions of the gym leader as he raced off him the supplies Norman had given him to go and capture his very first pokemon. The boy was alive, if for the first time in his life as he went over to route 102 to find a pokemon. He searched high and low until finally he saw rustling in the woods a little pokemon for him to capture; it was a Ralts, a small psychic pokemon that had potential for serious power once fully evolved. The boy quickly threw the pokeball hard and hit the Ralts right on the head with it which sucked the pokemon inside the ball; now all he could do was wait as he watched the ball shake back and forth with the pokemon inside. It rustled back and forth, for what seemed an eternity to the young boy. Was he going to be a real pokemon trainer, or just a sickly neighborhood kid still? This issue troubled him deeply. That is until the pokeball clicked shut and the struggle for the ownership of the ralts had finally been resolved. With bewilderment in his eyes the young boy approached the ball and slowly picked it up to his eye level, as if he failed to register that the object in front of him was in fact a full pokeball with his new friend Ralts sitting comfortably inside. Wallie looked the ball over and for the first time in his life, he was something other than the sickly boy, something other than the dying kid, in this moment he was a pokemon trainer.

Back at the gym in Petalburg, just after the young Wallie had taken off Norman got a faint chill up his spine, a chill he recognized all too well, and thoroughly detested feeling. With his spine sending goosebumps and shivers to his brain, he knew what was going on without a moment's delay. "Parental…responsibility senses tingling. Must deal with biological son outside of scheduled visitation." Norman muttered as he turned toward route 102 to see a band of a trainer and three pokemon heading his way. Normally the adult would not be too interested in seeing the kid anyway, but especially with the hullabaloo going around about young Brendan, being a murdering psychopath of his father's old friend Birch was just the icing on the cake a disinterested father needed when seeing his son for the first time in quite a good bit of time. Norman scowled as he saw the boy and his band of pokemon marching toward his gym; they had a swagger about themselves, which showed that they had seen the face of death between them recently to which Norman speculated was in reference to the professor's demise. Norman folded his arms as the party made their final approach toward the renowned leader and trainer.

Brendan upon seeing his father as they neared the gym quickly turned in front of friends to have a quick chat. "Alright guys, I know that Okuni's death has us a little shaken up, but wipe that chapter clean and let us keep our heads up high. Up ahead is my dad and maybe he can help us clear our name? After all, it is in his best interest for me to not be a criminal on the run as I am his son. Even if I do not like him at all. I have to give him a shot to actually be a decent father for a change. Who knows, he might surprise me." Brendan said to his buddies huddled together to keep their voices down. He found his words hard to actually believe, although the boy needed hope, he needed something to make him believe that he could be saved from this journey as he with the battle on route 102 and the issue of Okuni's death, the kid from Littleroot was beginning to believe that this journey might be too much for the crew to handle. Fear was taking root in the boy's brain and possibly now was trying to choke out the fire that gave Brendan the ability to move down this path in the first place. He saw his dad as a potential opportunity to rescue him from a disastrous fate ahead; even with their estranged situation in life, they believed that his father would still help his son. The trio of pokemon with Brendan felt the tension in the boy's voice as he gave them the pep talk before the human spoke up ahead. Each one tried to offer courage to the boy, but Brendan did not speak pokemon, so all their words to him fell on deaf ears, yet they did nuzzle him a bit in order to nonverbally offer the boy an ounce of courage moving forward. "Thanks guys…wish me luck as I talk to him."

"Good Luck!" they all said as Brendan as he turned around and marched the last twenty feet alone to face his scowling father. The words of his pals did not register into exact words, but Brendan felt extra strength as he went up to his father.

"Hey da…."

"POW!" Brendan groaned as a fist connected with the right side of his rib cage. All three pokemon were shocked at seeing their master being struck so hard that he dropped to his knees. Masamune growled wildly and began moving in to attack Norman, but Brendan called to his poochyena from his knees, asking the dog to stay back and let him handle the situation.

"Nice to see you too daddy." The boy said as he held his sides in pain.

"Why did you come here? Do you know that I cannot go five minutes now without someone looking at me as if I'm connected with you in the murder of my old friend Birch?"

Looking up at his father the boy, then arose to his feet as he tried to continue bravely. "I did not kill him. I know I fled and ran away but that girl started accusing and attacking me so I fled for safety." Norman shook his head with an even greater scowl on his face than he had before.

"It doesn't matter, you ran away. That makes you guilty in the eyes of the world. Now you have a bounty on your head. What did you think would happen by you coming here? That I would get the world off your back, that I would defeat anyone that was chasing you. What did you expect Brendan?" the speech of his father infuriated Brendan as he began to doubt that his old man was going to do anything for the boy other than scold and laugh at his misfortune.

"I expected you to be a father for a change!" the sentence echoed loudly as people in the streets began to stop and look at the two arguing in front of the pokemon gym.

"OH YOU WANTED A FATHER!" Norman said in a booming roar. "So what would a father do here? Would a father hide you away like a secret pet for the rest of your life until I died and people forgot what you looked like, which would endanger my standing with the pokemon league and my job as a gym leader, which I do to pay for you and your mother's wellbeing? Would a father stand up in the city, say you are innocent without any proof, and keep on fighting beside you until they threw you in prison for life? Would a father give you all the money and good pokemon I have even though you lack sufficient training to handle them? Please tell me Brendan, since you are an expert on the subject, what would a father do?"

"HE WOULD HELP ME!" Brendan yelled as he closed his eyes trying to hold back the tears forming in his pupils. Norman turned around and folded his arms behind his back.

"I am going to help you son…I am going to give you until the count of ten to get gone from my sight before I forcibly arrest you for questioning in line with the murder of professor Birch." The words stung Brendan deep in his heart; they even hurt the pokemon that called Brendan their leader.

"Are you…fucking kidding me?" Brendan retorted as the tears began to roll. He came seeking asylum and found himself merely under more threats than before.

"You forget son, I am a Gym Leader. As such, I am duty bound by the law to apprehend suspects like yourself. For me to simply not arrest you, I am putting your mother and myself in serious danger; technically committing treason. Brendan rubbed his eyes as he wished to show no tears in the presence of a man who had his back turned toward him when he needed help the most. Brendan began walking back toward his pokemon, but after few steps, he turned back his head and offered a final remark toward the man he knew as father only by title.

"I am going to clear my name." He said to Norman. "I am going to get stronger as a trainer, and someday I will return here and defeat you and take a badge by force as I work to clear my name from this murder. And I will be sure that I kill all your pokemon in front of you Old Man." With that last sentence, Brendan ran back to his pokemon and set out to the Petalburg City Pokecenter. He was upset and so were his pokemon by the lack of help that Norman had offered the boy. After all, this was his son in need of help, not some random stranger on the side of the road. Brendan was let down by the old man.

As they trotted down the road away from the gym, Brendan bumped into a boy in a completely different mood than he. "Sorry friend." The boy said as he turned and made eye contact. However, as the boy looked at the face of Brendan the mood of the boy changed. "Wait a moment; you're the criminal, Brendan. Engarde!" The boy said as he threw a pokeball releasing the ralts he caught earlier in the day. Brendan was not in a mood to battle at all and neither were his pokemon. The crew keep on pacing toward the center, for a quick refresh before they continued onward with their journey of redemption. The gang was set to leave the group alone but when Ralts growled at the party, Masamune turned and howled back in a violent display, sending the enemy Ralts into a cowering state, one in which Wallie, being an intelligent kid, realized that he was not going to win a fight against three pokemon and the boy with just the ralts he caught. Brendan and his crew walked away to ponder their issues at hand while Wallie was left comforting his frightened pokemon. "Don't worry buddy, we're going to train up hard." The boy looked at the gang as they disappeared out of view. "Someday we will bring that man to justice ourselves, just you watch Raltsie. We will track him down and stop that evil doer." The boy felt a mission growing in his heart as he and the ralts felt a swelling of purpose, which gave the sickly child a boost of strength in him, that he never before felt. This child felt a strong rivalry brewing in his heart with Brendan, if just because he was a few years older.

Regardless of Wallie, the journey for Brendan, with his father denying to give him aide on his quest for innocence, was realizing as he entered the pokemon center, that his mission was actively becoming increasingly difficult.


	6. Chapter 5

Author Note:

hey there, things are getting ready to be super different from a normal run through, so strap up and get ready for deviation. YEAH DEVIATION! anyway i hope this chapter makes you laugh a bit as the chicken sandwich is getting serious. as always please offer reviews :)

...

Chapter 5: Moving Onward.

The pain of the encounter with his father pushed the young boy Brendan onward to Route 104 as he knew that the route would lead to the Petalburg woods. From there he would head to the City of Rustburo, where he could take on a gym leader, as he knew that against his father, he would currently be no challenge at all. His pokemon friends followed behind there master with gusto as they left Petalburg, all with a single finger raised in the direction of the Gym lead by Norman.

"That guy was a straight up Giratina." Mitsuhide said to the others.

"Yeah, but he is Brendan's father…" Nagamasa replied.

"At least he still has one…" replied Masamune. "I know he did not help us like Brendan wanted, but at least he let us leave rather than arresting Brendan."

"You've got a good point Masamune." Replied Mitsuhide. "Look, either way though, we could have used more help, and Brendan…we need to get stronger and get more buddies to help Brendan out." All agreed as they entered the Route with eyes wide open for a new friend. However when they saw a beach everyone lost track of the program and ran toward the water, at least that's what they thought.

Within a few minutes of playing on the beach and forgetting their troubles, splashing swimming and relaxing with Brendan to keep his mind off the struggles of the journey ahead, Masamune came running from the other side of the beach with a bird flapping about with one wing in the dog's mouth. The bird was slapping and flapping in anguish as the poochyena carried the bird to the group. Brendan laughed as he saw that Masamune had picked up a new friend for the party and Brendan quickly threw a pokeball at the bird hanging out of the dog's mouth. Within a short moment the ball had sealed to the excitement of the party. Brendan's troubles seemed lost to the group.

"Masamune, that was awesome!" Brendan said as he released the bird to learn more about it. The bird was the water/flying pokemon, wingull and it was a happy addition to the group. "I'll name this bro, Motonari. The others quickly ran up to meet their new comrade in arms.

"Hello there, I'm Nagamasa."

"I'm Mitsuhide."

"Well, I am angry and disgusted, by that dog there!" Motonari said to the others.

"Look dude, I was only trying to bring you aboard the team because of the situation. After all, you said you would join us." Masamune retorted to the bird who was wiping the slobber off his wing while checking to be sure that no damage had been sustained in the travelling.

"I did say that I would join your cause to help Brendan, but you didn't need to immediately grab hold of me and drag me across the beach." The bird replied.

"Ohhh…Sorry." Masamune said whilst rubbing his head in embarrassment. "I guess I just got a little carried away with excitement."

"I guess I'll be the bigger man in this situation and just accept that apology, so long during travel I can ride atop your back." The wingull said to the poochyena. "It is rather tiring flying everywhere, my wings need a rest here and there, and my feet just are not meant for long distance travel." Masamune consented to this arrangement as he did feel a little silly for dragging the bird all the way to the gang like he did. Getting a bit of a breather at the beach gave Brendan newfound strength and resolve as they moved onward to the Petalburg woods.

As they reached the entrance however, there were two trainers blocking the way into the woods. "Look Billy, it is as you said." A well dressed boy said to the other.

"Yep, I believe that the boy in front of us is none other than Brendan, the murderer." The other replied. The boys instantly threw down and sent out their pokemon. The enemies sent out a zigzagoon, a seedot and a tailow. "Let us work together and get that bounty." The two boys grinned and chuckled as the three enemy pokemon advanced.

"Guys can you handle this threat?" Brendan asked his buddies. Mitsuhide simply gave him a thumbs up and began shouting the battle strategy to the gang.

"Alright Masamune, get that zigzagoon. Nagamasa, take down that silly seedot. I'll handle the tailow." The trio moved to formation and ripped the enemy apart with little effort. Masamune bit down and claimed victory over the zigzagoon without taking serious damage. Mitsuhide pounded the tailow into submission, and Nagamasa made a meal of the seedot. As the last enemy fell the two trainers gathered up what they could and fled the scene.

"You suck Brendan!" they cried as they fled to Petalburg. The crew celebrated an easy victory and Motonari quickly realized that he was not dealing with the usual crew of ragamuffin pokemon, but a crew of devoted rampaging bulls, ready to fight and protect their master.

"Guys, I am seriously impressed by your fortitude in battle, especially you Masamune, bravo." The wingull began clapping his wings in adulation of the victory.

"Yeah, I think that what you're saying is a good thing…so I am going to take it as such." Said the poochyena. The vocabulary of the wingull perplexed the rest of the gang as well as Masamune, they had never been around a pokemon or human of fanciful diction before. Brendan congratulated each of his friends and checked out their health, he doled out potions to those in need and moved forward into the woods with his four friends.

As they entered the forest they noticed it was dark and dreary, mostly full of bug noises. The sounds brought back brief memories of their departed friend Okuni. Brendan shed a light tear. He did his best to keep the others from seeing the emotion shine down from his face but the effort was in vain as Nagamasa, who felt a similar pain hit him upon hearing the chirping and scuttles of wurmple around the forest. Nagamasa rubbed up against Brendan's legs as the other pokemon went ahead of the crew. "Thanks Nagamasa, thanks for the support. I love you bud." He hugged his zigzagoon and the two smiled as they caught up to the others."

"Keep your eyes peeled guys." Masamune said to the crew as Motonari, who sat atop the poochyena's back, assisted with the scouting duties. "I smell trainers about in here, and I don't think they are friendly." Just as the crew all rejoined up two bug catchers appeared up in a tree.

"We here of a boy, out and about."

"With a price on his head, that could end our drought." The gang gritted up as the enemy trainers released three wurmple and a nincada upon the group. Without hesitation Mitsuhide rallied the troops.

"Let's tear these posers up guys." All nodded as Brendan sat back and watched his boys go to work on the enemy. "Masamune, take down the nincada, Nagamasa, Motonari and myself will each get a wurmple." Within a matter of moments all three wurmple were done for and begging for a mercy not granted as each of the gang finished the job to the horror of their trainers. All that was left standing was the nincada, which being partly a ground type pokemon, was putting up a good fight with its higher defensive stats.

"Masamune, do you need a hand?" Motonari called to his friend. Despite being unable to shatter the nincada's defenses, Masamune was not accepting to criticism and heckling from the gang. Brendan hollered support toward his poochyena as he knew that the dog was the best suited pokemon he had toward taking down the creature. Masamune howled with a wild vigor and charged the nincada with passion as he sunk his teeth deep into the nincada's exoskeleton. The nincada tried to fight back as the teeth sunk deeper and deeper, eating away at the pokemon's health. However, the battle was decided by the fateful bite as the nincada dropped dead from the force of the poochyena's attack. The trainers then tried to launch an attack at Brendan absent pokemon. Yet, Mitsuhide and Nagamasa made sure their efforts failed as they beat the trainers into submission. The two bug catchers then ran off into the woods to escape the wrath of Brendan's boys. Masamune upon claiming his victory and the victory of the party unleashed a bellowing howl of immense verbosity. The ring of the howl sent much of the woods into a panic and pokemon hiding about began to flee in fear for their lives.

One such pokemon was just not quick enough to make an escape. It was a slakoth. This sloth pokemon was rare in the woods, and was only found because it was rustling in the brush with it's foot stuck in a log. Brendan and the gang surveyed the pokemon and asked if their was any issue. The sloth showed the crew its foot and Brendan offered, its freedom from the ensnared position in return for joining the gang.

"Well, I don't have many options here do I?" the sloth said to the pokemon with Brendan. "Is he a good pal, and will you be good pals to me as well?" the sloth had a serious inquiry about him. He did not wish to starve from being stuck or worse, but he did not want to join a ruthless band of thugs.

"Look here friend." Nagamasa figured he would be the best at negotiating cooperation from the sloth so he assumed the mantle. "I know we may seem a bit imposing and scary, but I promise you that we are just a humble group caught in a strange plot, in which we are desperately trying to clear the name of our trainer Brendan, and keeping him from harm of these people who wish it upon him and us alike." Masamune and Mitsuhide gave Nagamasa a golf clap in thanks for an excellent speech aimed at persuading the young slakoth to take up arms with Brendan. After several moments of lingered tension as the slakoth pondered the choice, he nodded his head in consent. Brendan then tossed a pokeball in his direction and once the seal was made he released the slakoth back to the group.

"How does the name Katsuie suit you?" the slakoth nodded that the name would be just fine with him. The crew all made formal introductions with the new teammate and before too long Brendan signaled that the group needed to advance onward. The crew moved forward, now with five pokemon. The young wanted trainer Brendan was feeling ever so confident with his crew. He looked down the line and thought of each one of his buddies. He had Mitsuhide, a quick natural born leader, and his original pokemon. He had Nagamasa, a defensive wall with a heart of gold. He had the brash bruiser Masamune, who while lacking manners, was always eager and ready to fight. He had Motonari, a regal wingull who enjoyed perching atop the poochyena's back, rather than over exerting himself. And then Brendan thought of his new friend, Katsuie. He looked down to see his new buddy. "…Where are you, Katsuie!" the boy said as the whole group became alarmed at the slakoth's disappearance. They had only just been walking a few hundred feet, so Brendan was concerned as to where his friend was off at. Nagamasa tugged Brendan's shorts and the boy looked backward and saw Katsuie making a slowly paced march toward the group. Brendan and the rest of the crew slapped their hands against their faces in disbelief. "I guess we need to find a way for you to keep up with the group." Brendan and Mitsuhide fashioned together a cart for the pokemon quickly as being roughly 50 pounds, Katsuie was much too heavy for anyone in the group to be burdened carrying currently. Katsuie liked the cart and Nagamasa offered to pull it behind him. And so the crew set off further down the forest. They based up any all pokemon that came in their path and found the whole party getting stronger as a result.

Finally, they found themselves nearing the exit to the forest which would release them into the northern portion of route 104. However, as luck would have it a new threat was awaiting them at the forests edge. It was a different person than the crew had ever seen before. The man was wearing a flamboyantly red suit with a hood, and acted in peculiar and strange equally flamboyant fashion as he danced about while making the announcement that all enemy trainers in essence make when challenging another.

"Prepare to be captured Brendan as we, Team Magma are after your bounty." The grunt sent out a poochyena which seemed well trained in comparison to any trained pokemon Brendan had ever seen before. The boy was not sure who should take on the challenge. so he asked the crew to decide. All quickly looked toward the ever excited, ever feisty, ever battle-ready member of the party, Masamune. He quickly dashed into the fray as he realized what the others thought. Motonari flew off the poochyena's back and cheered on his pal from the air.

"Don't die on me Masamune, you're too good of a mount." The bird said in jest. Masamune sized up his kinsman. He rubbed and scratched at the ground before charging in unison with the enemy dog. The fight grew loud as each one of the poochyena went hard for a killing blow. The excitement caught everyone's attention and while the enemy poochyena was kicking up sand to distort everyone's vison in the nearby area Brendan felt a pluck upon his neck.

"OUCH!" he reached up to his neck and pulled out what looked like some kind of dart needle. Mitsuhide and Nagamasa looked back and forth hoping to see a wurmple that was shocked firing a poison needle attack on the party, yet nothing was visible in the sand. "Guys, don't worry, I'm alright, let's just cheer on our pal Masamune." Even after the commands of Brendan, the rest of the party kept their guard up against another incoming attack. The enemy poochyena had put up a solid fight and effort against Masamune, yet in the end, Masamune knew the "bite" attack and the other poochyena did not. Masamune suck down his teeth deep, and refused to let go until the poochyena's life left him. The team Magma member however, did not have a beaten look on his face as his pokemon died right in front of him.

"Brendan, you are quite the battler, but you are still going to be the loser today." The grunt then threw a white smoke bomb in front of the gang and by the time it cleared the grunt as well as the dead poochyena were long gone. Brendan and the others felt relieved that they could once again progress toward the exit and onward to Rustboro, but they kept there guard up as they continued forward from that spot on, as they still had no idea what shot that needle at Brendan.

Watching from a distance as they exited the woods was the grunt who battled Brendan, as well as another grunt with a strong grin on her face. "Well I hope that by the happy look on your face, that you accomplished your mission." The beaten grunt said to the smiling girl.

"Yes I did! I got him right in the neck." The girl spoke with gusto as she knew she accomplished her objective." The two gave each other a high five in celebration.

"Excellent!" the male grunt replied. "So sacrificing my poochyena was worth it." The male watched as the last of the crew excited the woods. "So how long until it takes affect?"

"He'll be down in roughly 30 minutes." She replied.

"Awesome, once he's down the pokemon will be confused and then we can go and snatch him for Maxie. He'll be so proud of us." The grunt smiled as he thought of the praise he would receive for seeing this mission through perfectly.

"Sure….But tell me again…why does Maxie want this boy's dead body?" the girl inquired of her teammate. The sentence of the female hit the male grunt like an overloaded freight train ramming a brick wall.

"WHAT!"


	7. Chapter 6

AUTHOR NOTE:

So i decided to change the title from "Weekend at Brendan's" to A Gang Sworn to Bushido." I've never changed a title of a "published" work in progress before but i feel that it will fit better with the vibe of the tale from here on out as i realize that comedy is more the lesser genre used than drama. i apologize if this upsetting and ask for your thoughts below. As always, i love you guys :)

Chapter 6: A Seriously Messed Up Afternoon on Route 104

"What…What do you mean his DEAD BODY!" the male grunt asked of his female counterpart. He was perplexed by the last remark she gave and immediately needed an answer. The female grunt looked absolutely puzzled by the question, it seemed to her an obvious one.

"Well we are supposed to take him to Maxie after the serum takes care of him aren't we." The male grunt nodded in affirmation to the question. "So then, what does Maxie want with his dead body?"

"He doesn't want his dead body, he wants us to knock him unconscious so we can capture him and then take him to the Team Magma Base without seeing where it is located."

"OHHHHH….yeah….that might not happen like that…" the female grunt replied in embarrassment.

"What do you mean? Please share your concerns about the plan." He began twitching as every word that fell from the girl's mouth brought up more tension for the male.

"Well I used a deadly poison dart, not a tranquillizer dart." She began laughing in embarrassment at the mix up of darts. However, the male grunts jaw hit the floor in shock at the revelation. "So the boy will be dead in a few minutes." The male grunt slapped the girl across the face as hard as he could muster. He then began storming off in the direction of the base.

"We need to go and let Maxie know about this mess. I just hope he spares my life, yours on the other hand is without a doubt forfeit." The girl's laughter turned to shuttering as she frantically chased after the male grunt; her only goal now was to help shape the story for the boss so that she was not going to be killed for her failure.

….

As the gang exited the woods of Petalburg, a new light of hope seemed to ring about the air, almost as if everything just seemed peaceful for a change. The pokemon with Brendan were at peace and surprisingly so was he. "You guys are really kicking serious butt out there!" Brendan said to his pokemon friends. He was truly amazed at their progress in power and skill, but mainly at how well they kept themselves together as a unit. "Come on guys, let's go onward to Rustboro.

Soon however as they continued down the road, the crew noticed Brendan seemed uncharacteristically winded and exhausted. The boy was sweating profusely and panting as if he had not tasted water in many days. "My word, I feel rather hot guys." The boy said to his friends. "Lets stop up here for a quick rest. Maybe that will make me feel better." The gag stopped next to the small lake, and set up a couple of bedding for Brendan to rest upon. The boy seemed to be getting even more exhausted from before when they were marching. Soon the kid began coughing and his eyes turned blood red, as vessels burst forth in agonizing pain.

"He looks horrible." Said Katsuie. "We should give him some space to rest. The group instantly withdrew a few feet to give Brendan a bit of space. All except for Nagamasa who laid down beside his friend and master as the boy panted and coughed wildly.

"I'm going to stay by his side for comfort." Nagamasa said to the others. He nuzzled up with the boy and began to pray that a miracle would happen and the boy would find relief from the tormenting cough that so ailed him.

Soon though Brendan began to figure out what the issue was, what it was that caused his health to so rapidly decline. "Guys…it was the red guy in the forest." It took Brendan great effort now to even form the simplest of words with his swollen tongue and pumping heart. He gingerly lifted his arm and rubbed the spot where the needle hit him whilst I the woods. All the pokemon noticed this and began to grow angrier toward the man from Team Magma they ran into while in the woods. "They shot me with some powerful poison….keep….keep on guard." Brendan mouthed the words to his friends; at the same time his arm dropped back to his side as the boy felt it taking too much effort to hold it upright.

"You heard him guys, keep an eye out. Stay alert!" Mitsuhide said to the party. All stood watch even Nagamasa joined the perimeter, as Brendan seemed to have passed out from the drug's serum.

"Sleep well Brendan, and know that we have you covered." Nagamasa said to his unconscious master as he licked his face before helping set up a watch around the campsite. The group was resolved to be sure that nothing further would disturb their master as he rested to regain his strength.

After a couple hours, the group felt a bit more at ease, as they believed that if the enemy had intentions to strike then they would have done so by this point. "Look, they would have made a move by this point." Motonari said to the others. "I think we are in the clear by now, besides we are out of the forest as well, where they would be more prone to attacking our retinue." The team scaled back and simply began to lay down as rest as their master was at the moment.

"He sure looks peaceful." Masamune said to the gang.

"Yeah, he needs his rest, if he is going to beat that poison." Mitsuhide replied. The gang cozied up around Brendan and the cart used to haul Katsuie and other items. Nagamasa waltzed over and rest his head upon the sleeping boy who was hunched over leaning forward with his head drooped to the ground ahead of him.

"You're so exhausted Brendan, I hope you get well rested." Nagamasa spoke softly to the boy. He nuzzled up to the boy rubbing his back…..

"CRASH!" Brendan completely fell forward onto his face pushing up harder against his neck than before. Nagamasa and the others panicked and repositioned their master onto his back as quickly as they realized that Brendan was not responding to the stress of the movement of his body. Masamune expressed how the boy felt surprisingly limp as they repositioned him. The others agreed that Brendan's body gave a lot more than a person normally would when moving it. This brought up some interesting questions among the group.

"He sure is sleeping hard, isn't he guys." Said Katsuie to the gang. Nagamasa moved closer to listen to Brendan and see if he was breathing okay.

"GUYS!" the zigzagoon pushed away in shock. "Brendan is not breathing at all!" This panic set off the alarm amongst the crew as each one moved up to examine Brendan. While they were at first in utter disbelief of Nagamasa's testimony, within a matter of seconds their perspective on the situation altered drastically.

"Is he dead?" Masamune asked of the group. Nagamasa still remained frazzled and off in the distance. Motonari attempted to answer the question, and with his usual regal jargon of course.

"Well, his breathing has ceased. Perhaps he is in a comatose state, or perhaps his spirit has indeed fled from our side." The bird said while perched atop the poochyena. Mitsuhide being the most adventurous of the party, grabbed a nearby stick and started poking Brendan with it in random places, hoping to see a reaction from the boy.

Shaking his head however, after a few seconds the treecko gave his answer. "No he's dead guys." The treecko stepped a few paces backward and folded his arms in an upset manner.

"How do you know he's dead, you are not a chansey!" Katsuie hollered at Mitsuhide.

"Screw you I know stuff!" Mitsuhide replied.

"Oh yeah, poking him with a stick a few times will tell if he is dead or alive huh!" Katsuie snarked back toward the treecko.

"No of course not, but he crapped his pants." Replied the treecko.

"What does that have to do with it?" Masamune remarked.

"Everything!" Mitsuhide retorted. "When you die you grease yourself." The treecko said looking to the group. "That is common knowledge."

"How is that common knowledge if we don't know that?" retorted Nagamasa.

"I don't know, but it means he is dead, I know about this stuff."

"You don't know about this stuff!" replied Masamune.

"Fuck you, I know stuff!" replied the treecko. It was without question that Brendan or someone had in fact made a stinky mess. The smell lingered and thickened the air in an unsavory manner than plagued the group. The questions stopped as all began to move in and in their own way realize mentally that Brendan, their trainer, was dead. All five gathered around the body. As they looked on their lifeless master's body the group broke down. Even Mitsuhide who had picked up the stick and began poking the body of Brendan once more.

"Cut it out Mitsuhide." Asked Nagamasa of his friend. All were in shock of the death of the boy, yet Nagamasa seemed to be taking the death the hardest, at least for the moment. The zigzagoon backed away from the corpse and began bellowing out cries of anguish. Masamune however was feeling a similar fit of rage brewing in his heart and the dog soon grabbed Nagamasa and pulled him aside.

"Come with and let's make every bastard trainer on this route pay!" Nagamasa overcome with grief shook his head in disagreement with the poochyena. "Fine." The dog replied. "I'll just seek my own appetite." The poochyena let out a bellowing howl and ran further down the route, his only goal was to make every trainer and pokemon he could find pay for the horror against Brendan.

"Masamune!" Motonari hollered as the beast darted off. The bird was confused and upset as to why the dog left the group. Tears began welling up over the bird as he needed a shoulder to cry on in the moment.

"Let him have some air, Motonari." Replied the treecko, "he'll return to us once he has had time to cool off and recover from the horror." Mitsuhide closed the eyes of his departed friend and trainer. He thought back to all the memoires the crew shared together. All the times he had been reprimanded for poking people with sticks. All the times that Brendan sat back and naively watched as Mitsuhide led the charge into battle. Mitsuhide shook his head in disbelief at the situation. "Guys, help me bury our master." The four still with the group all agreed as they picked a spot a few feet from where Brendan's corpse lay dead. All pitched in as within nearly half an hour of silent digging the crew dug a sufficient grave for the boy. Katsuie and Mitsuhide stripped Brendan of his backpack, and other items used by a pokemon trainer like his pokedex and watch. Then the group rolled him gently into the grave. Once Brendan hit the bottom of the hole, the group quickly plowed the dirt back atop him.

The burial was quick as they had him safely in the ground and covered. "Motonari, before we say a few words for the boy go and find Masamune." Nagamasa said to the wingull. Motonari darted off in the direction Masamune had head earlier. In the meantime, the others built a hedge marking to distinguish the dirt from the rest of the area. They placed rocks and a few sticks around the replaced dirt to mark the spot. Katsuie was overwhelmed and eventually had to stop and breathe while the others kept placing stones until the job was complete.

For the wingull, is task was not a pleasant one as Masamune had run off in a heated storm of rage fit for the mightiest of blood lusts. Soon the bird had reached an area of great terror to the eyes, as a dead trainer lay with four half-eaten Magicarp lying about. Further along a couple other dead pokemon lay about the area, from here a blood trail with paw prints flowed down the path. The bird followed these eerie markings. Hoping only to see his friend and mount Masamune along the path still in good health. "Ohhh, please be okay Masamune." The wingull said as he flew the blood trail. After a couple moments, almost as far as the main entrance to Rustburo City was the poochyena covered in blood, with dead pokemon scattered about him, blood all around him, pooling near his feet. The poochyena was visibly scarred and worn out from the fighting. The dog panted wildly as a child coming down from a tantrum. He soon kneeled down and covered his eyes with his paws and began to cry incessantly. Motonari flew over to the dog and landed outside of the pooling blood eager to comfort his friend. He hoisted the poochyena up off the ground and embrace the dog by wrapping his wings around him. The two began to cry further in agony for the situation at hand.

"Why…why…how did we let Brendan die?" Masamune asked as he continued crying on the wingull's shoulder. Motonari simply kept quiet as the two comforted each other in the field surrounded by strewn corpses and blood all at the hands of an enraged poochyena.

"We need you back at the grave Masamune. We need you to say goodbye properly." Motonari said to his friend. The poochyena agreed and simply asked the bird for a few more minutes to collect himself before they headed back to the group. Motonari accepted and the two continued to sit and collect themselves for a couple minutes further.

Before long Masamune and Motonari had returned to the gang at the gravesite and all gathered around to say goodbye to their friend. "Masamune, its good to have you back brother." Nagamasa said to the dog. The two embraced and held on for a couple extra seconds to show the passion and strength of their friendship in the hug.

"Same here brother. We've been waiting…perhaps you could provide a eulogy for us Masamune?" the treecko asked his friend. Mitsuhide realized that while Masamune wasn't the most couth speaker in the gang, he was the boldest, and sometimes being bold is really the best thing for such a situation as this that just requires laying everything on the table and telling it straight. The poochyena was honored at the request of Mitsuhide. He smiled and nodded as the others smiled at the thought.

"Brendan….I miss you already. You caught me, and the others. You told us about EV training, and other things. You taught us how to us a pokedex and such. We swore to protect you, and we failed…please forgive us." Masamune began tearing up as he asked his dead master for forgiveness. All began weeping as well at the comment. However the dog was not over. "Permit us now, to use the bond of friendship that we now share to continue your quest for justice." All perked up and felt a fire burning in their eyes at the comment made by the poochyena. "I invoke the code of Bushido upon myself. I will vanquish the Team Magma people and restore Brendan's name, or die trying." The dog then bit into his own hand and spread his blood over the grave of Brendan. "Go with Arceus!"

"Go with Arceus!" the others said. Tension hung as the others heard the words of the dog and were waiting mostly to see the response of Mitsuhide to Masamune invoking Bushido for himself. They wondered if the treecko would join or if he would shake his hand and leave.

"Masamune!" the treecko spoke up after realizing that the others were looking toward him for the answer as to what was to happen. "I will join you on your quest for Bushido!"

"Swear it!" the dog remarked Mitsuhide extended his hand and the dog down until he bleed. "I swear the code of Bushido upon myself. I will vanquish the Team Magma people and restore Brendan's name, or die trying." The treecko said the words to the delight of Masamune, the two embraced and smiled as they felt strength for their cause together. Then without a moment's hesitation next to the two friends were the hands of the other three pokemon extended, ready to swear for the oath. Masamune smiled as he bit into each one and the others then spoke.

"I swear the code of Bushido upon myself. I will vanquish the Team Magma people and restore Brendan's name, or die trying." Pride was in the face of each person, as they knew they were still running the course of their mission from before, but while in the past it was Brendan's mission of redemption, it was now his pokemon's journey of vengeance. Happily yet with heavy hearts, they gathered up everything and threw it all in the pull-cart with Katsuie as they marched forward on the road toward Rustboro and their next challenge, the gym.

"Wait!" Katsuie hollered.

"What is it brother?" Nagamasa asked as the troop halted their advance.

"How are we going to compete in gyms and clear Brendan's name?" the group instantly understood the complexity of the situation.

"Well…we have his pokedex and trainer id, which should work to get us a battle. Right?" Masamune inquired with severe doubt in his voice.

Shaking his head no, Motonari disagreed. "No, those ID cards don't cover the fact that we are a trainer-less bunch of pokemon running about. They are more likely to try and catch us than battle us." All nodded at that level of reasoning. "But their must be some kind of way that we could do this."

Then a light bulb went off in Mitsuhide's head as he looked at Katsuie's fur atop his head. He pulled Nagamasa beside him and while looking at the head of the slakoth, he asked his friend, "Does his hair look familiar?" Nagamasa lit up with joy and nodded his head after a few seconds to ponder the idea. Mitsuhide smiled as he raised his hand to disclose the idea. "Alright we'll have Katsuie pose as Brendan. After all he looks sort of like him with that hair." The others tilted their head while looking at the slakoth and shrugged as they had no better an idea. Katsuie simply scratched his head in confusion at the notion.

"How would I be able to battle then?" Katsuie asked.

"You don't, we do and you just play trainer to get us into the gyms and such." Said Nagamasa.

"But I can't speak human." The slakoth posed another issue.

"Well then just be silent, and let others do the whole monologue thing." Mitsuhide replied. "All we need is for you to pose as the trainer and then we have a way into the battles we need."

"Alright then let's do it…I'll be Brendan." He said with a huff in his voice as he was not excited about playing a dead human and never battling again. The group smiled as once again they were heading down the path, and then another question came up. "Wait! How am I going to not be recognized as a slakoth, I mean I may be able to be disguised as Brendan but I'm not even wearing any clothes right now." The thought halted the crew once more from pushing forward down the route.

After a few moments Mitsuhide snapped his fingers and marched the group back the way they came to the confusion of the posse. As the group neared the gravesite of the boy a growing suspicion began to take hold of Nagamasa as they edged closer and closer without an answer from the treecko. Finally, the suspicion overtook the zigzagoon and he had to ask as Mitsuhide stopped right at the boy's grave. "Mitsuhide, what are we doing back here?" he asked of his friend. The treecko turned around and gave his reply.

"TADA!" he replied while pointing at the grave. The others just scratched their heads while Nagamasa gulped. "Look we need to better disguise Katsuie as a human right…" as he paused for a moment to nod his head to solicit support, the others soon nodded in agreement with him. "Then we need clothes to make that happen…" the nod pause repeated itself. "Then we'll just take Brendan's clothes!" the group gasped at the thought at the moment the treecko finished his sentence.

"NO NO NO NO!" the zigzagoon replied. "That's where I draw the line! I am not digging up a dead body just to steal his clothes!" the zigzagoon crossed his arms and turned away in disgust.

"We aren't really digging him up. Just think of it as repositioning him for a better eternal rest." The treecko tried to reason with his friend.

"I don't know about this Mitsuhide…this sounds wrong." Said Motonari. "Its Brendan's dead body."

"I get that, but we need clothes for Katsuie." The words hung in the air and eventually because no one could provide an easier method for attaining the appropriate attire for the slakoth the group consented and joined Mitsuhide in digging up Brendan. All except for Nagamasa who refused to partake despite it being a logical idea, as the zigzagoon just could not bring himself to dig up his former master.

Within a few moments the group reached Brendan and as Mitsuhide and Masamune twisted and turned the body to get his top clothes off Motonari lost his lunch all over the place just out of the grave. Mitsuhide with heavy disgust in his eyes carried on with the steel resolve of Masamune pushing him on in the task as they removed his shirt and placed it out of the grave. Katsuie seeing the mess made by Motonari began to look in Brendan's backpack for a potion to help calm the wingull down from the horror of the scene in front of the group. As he looked inside the bag he yelled, "AWWW SON OF A BITCH!" the others looked up as the slakoth pulled out of the bag a fresh set of clothes and shoes for the boy. Mitsuhide and Masamune immediately dropped the body back in place in disgust and sighed at the annoyance of the revelation. However, Nagamasa did not take the news in such stride. As the others reburied the boy in haste the zigzagoon tail-whipped the slakoth hard in the face. He then pinned Katsuie to the ground and yelled.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU CHECK THE BAG BEFORE WE DUG UP THE MASTER?" Nagamasa yelled with force and fire in his eyes.

"Because…you didn't ask me to." Katsuie mustered the best response as the others finished up replacing the dirt that was disturbed to get at the corpse. Nagamasa dismounted the slakoth as the zigzagoon simply laughed as he walked over to finish replacing the grave marking stones. Soon all began laughing hysterically at just how messed up they were as pokemon and how ridiculous their quest was ahead of the gang.

Katsuie got into the outfit and all agreed that he looked significantly more like a human than he did before and the group set back off toward Rustburo as they sought to continue onward in their quest to fulfill the Bushido vow, despite the awful setback they brought upon themselves. As they walked along the route, Masamune pipped up and spoke to the gang. "Hey when we get past this next bridge…pay now mind to the blood and dead bodies…"


End file.
